Gerard beekmxn



(No Modl.)

G. BEEKMAN. COTTON HARVESTER.

Patented Apr. 11

INVENTOH l/ vention prior application,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GERARD 'BEEKMN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

` COTTON-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming pari. 0f Letters 'Patent N0. 495,007, dated. April11, 1893. Application led November 15, 1890. Serial No. 371,525. (Nomodel.)

`To yvr/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Bet kn own that I, GERARD BEEKMAN, actzen of the United States, residingat New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certainnew and useful Improvementsin Cotton-Harvesters, the said inhavingbeendescribed, also, in an application for United States Letters Patentfiled by me on the 17th day of February, 1887, Serial No. 227,897, onwhich Letters Patent were granted to me on the 23d day of September,1890, No. 436,770, by reference to which this will fully appear, theclaims for the subject-matter described in the present applicationhaving been omitted by me from the said as required by the PatentOffice, without any intention of abandonment.

The following is a specification of my invention, reference being hadtherein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of cottonharvesters in which thepicking mechanism rotates backward at substantially the same rate ofmotion as that of the harvester over the ground.

The objects of my invention are to group and support several pickers inoneI elasticarru, such as is described in my said Letters Patent, andIattain these objects bythe nicchanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

Figure 1 represents a plan view of the arrangement of adjoining arms,and pickers oi the kind shown. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of amodified form of an elastic-arm, in which one elastic shaft sets inmotion several pickers. Fig. 3 represents a perspective view of thesame, the pickers being removed. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail viewshowing the regulating wheel, R, in section; and Fig. 5, a horizontalsection of Fig. 4 taken on the line w-a:.

Similar letters referto similar parts throughout the several views. e

Only a portion of the mechanism which I prefer-to employfor rotatingshafts X is shown. It isthe same as that described in my said LettersPatent. Spools J are journaled in wheel F and rotated therein by meansof abelt pressing against said spools, said belt being stationary ormoving in a direction opposite to that of wheel F. To shanks Il, ofspools J, are attwo or more pickers. The flexible shafts X arepreferably composed of a tine coil of wire, substantially as shown in mysaid Letters Patent, but they may be composed of any other material,suitablev for flexible shafting. The pickers attached to the end of theflexible shaft X may be of any form of revolving picking device,suitable for seizing 'the ber of cotton, such, for instance, as thosereferred to in `my said Letters Patent. They may be vof string or ofwire, or spiral spring, which wire may be rigid or exible,and may becovered with gotta-perche., rubber or textile fabrics, or with any othersubstance which will assist the cotton in wrapping itself around thepickers.

A short distance below the wheel F, is the regulating wheel R, havingslots, U, through which pass the flexible arms N. Said flexiblearms,N,are made of coilsof wire or of curved tubes. The slots U areelongated, as appear in Figs. 4 and 5, to permit the elastic movement ofthe arms N, due to the yielding action of the coils of wire O, at theirupper parts, whereby they are attached to wheel F. At the lowerextremities of the arms N, the pickersl forming extensions of the shaftsX, are supportedin their divergent relation by means of the severalelastic tubular ngers P. These tubular fingers P, are also composed ofcoiled wire or other suitable material adapted for flexibility.

In Figs. 2 and 3 is shown a modification of my invention, whichmodification enables a single flexible shaft, inclosed in an elasticarm, to rotate a number of' rollers. The roller, g, Fig. 2, in the formof a frustum of a cone,

is screwed upon the lower end of the shaft,Y X, and around this rollerare grouped otherl conical rollers, h, h. Each of these rollers, g andh, has a picker, X', screwed into its outer and lower end. The bearingsof these rollers are in the concaved plate, i, and con Vex-plate,

7e, Figs. -2 and 3, which are held together by theconical box, Z, theconcave-plate, t', being screwed upon the lower end of the conical box,l. Below the plate, t', and surrounding each of the shanksof therollers, g and h, are hollow nipples, m, m, upon which may be screwedthe flexible-tip, P, P. The inward drag of the flexible-shaft, X, ifmade of aspitached flexible shafts X, giving rotation toV

